language development and breastfeeding

[Tomblin, J B]

Several years ago we published a study (Tomblin, Smith, & Zhang, 1997)
on prenatal and infancy risk factors for SLI at 6 years of age that
included retrospective information on breastfeeding.  When mother's
education was controlled breastfeeding was a significant protective
factor for language outcome (odds ratio=0.5).  We also found that there
was a dose effect in that longer periods of breastfeeding had a stronger
effect than shorter periods.  More recently, Drane and Logemann (2000)
published a systematic review of literature on breastfeeding and
cognitive outcomes.  Their findings were that the literature, although
limited, supported an association between breastfeeding and better
cognitive outcomes. These authors note that most research (including my
study), has not differentiated between pure breastfeeding and
combinations of breast and formula feeding which makes interpretation
more difficult.  I believe Denise Drane has recently completed a
dissertation on language development and breastfeeding at Northwestern
where this was controlled.

 

Tomblin, J. B., Smith, E. & Zhang, X. (1997) Epidemiology of SLI:
Prenatal and perinatal risk factors. Journal of Communication Disorders,
30, 325-344.

 

Drane, D. & Logemann, J. (2000) A critical evaluation of the evidence on
the association of infant feeding and cognitive development. Paediatric
and Perinatal Epidemiology, 14, 349-356.

 

 

________________________________

From: info-childes at mail.talkbank.org
[mailto:info-childes at mail.talkbank.org] On Behalf Of leah gedalyovich
Sent: Wednesday, March 22, 2006 4:05 PM
To: info-childes at mail.talkbank.org
Subject: language development and breastfeeding

 

dear all, 

this question came up from a discussion with a friend who is a lactation
consultant. there seems to be a given that breastfeeding is better than
any other alternative for virtually every aspect of development. is
there any published research on the relationship between breastfeeding
and language development? if any relationship is found is it attributed
to nutritional issues or to other issues (emotional, sensori-motor, etc)


i will post  a summary if there are replies.

thanx! 

leah gedalyovich

 

 

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